Hernando de Soto believes that economic development and capitalism depends upon formal property rights. He has been advocating for making a clear public record of who owns all real estate and to help entrepreneurs register their ownership of their businesses because millions of…
Blog Archives
The danger of the linear-thinking fallacy and the diminishing marginal utility of alcohol consumption
Unlike most elites, Charles Wheelan freely admits that he was “born on third base.” Although he probably inherited less than celebrities like Donald Trump or Bill Gates, Wheelan was born into a stable family that could afford to send him…
Posted in Labor, Public Finance
Why is Trump’s America upset?
Charles Murray recently wrote a Wall Street Journal essay arguing that, “Trumpism is an expression of the legitimate anger that many Americans feel about the course that the country has taken.” In particular, he says that increasing inequality since the 1970s has caused white…
Posted in Inequality, Public Finance
Trump & Sanders are both reactions to mmutilitarian policies
John B. Judis recently wrote a good analysis of populism on the right (Trump) and on the left (Sanders). This updates some of the themes in his book, The Paradox of American Democracy, in which he: presents a familiar diagnosis of American…
Posted in Medianism, Public Finance
Alcohol deaths are rising. Happy New Year.
See updated version that I reposted for spring break.
Posted in Labor, Public Finance
Are the Democrats poised to crush Republicans or will Republicans continue crushing Democrats?
Kevin Drum argues that demographic trends and political priorities are both conspiring to doom the Republican party to electoral defeat and that this helps explain the disarray of the Republican presidential campaigns so far. To the contrary, Matt Yglesias argues that…
Posted in Public Finance
A timeline of the big three US welfare programs: Health, Education, and Pensions.
In every welfare state, the most expensive social programs are education, pensions, and healthcare. These three categories, plus national defense, will account for about 74% of total US government spending in 2015.* Most people think of ‘welfare’ as assistance for…
Posted in Public Finance
Medianism 